Valley now on racing map

Kyle Wamsley may be one of the most popular professional cyclists who takes part in the various weekly rides throughout the rolling hills and scenic back roads of the Lehigh Valley.

The Chadds Ford native, who rides for the Colavita/Sutter Home racing team, is looking forward to his chance to finally race on the roads of the Lehigh Valley.

"It's the one of two things that the region is missing," Wamsley saidopined last month while discussing this week's Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, which kicks off on Tuesday with the Commerce Bank Lehigh Valley Classic. The 12-lap, 85-mile circuit race thatruns through downtown Allentown, out to the Lehigh Parkway, up 24th Street and back up Hamilton Boulevard through center city.

The Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling is a world-class, three stage cycling race that continues with the Reading Classic on Thursday and concludes with the world-famous Philadelphia International Championship, which includes the storied race up the famous "Manayunk Wall."

The formation of the Lehigh Valley Classic marks the first time this national hotbed of cycling is being included as a stage in the Triple Crown, and it is expected to draw 25,000 people, according to Dave Chauner, president of Pro Cycling Tour, the promoter staging the race.

The selection of the Lehigh Valley for one stage of the Triple Crown is long overdue because the area is renowned throughout the country for producing a number of professional and top level cyclists, as well as world-class international racing every summer at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Trexlertown.

"We have a velodrome [the VPCC]," the 28-year-old Wamsley said. "Now with the Lehigh Valley Classic, we not only have a big race, we have a world class international race. It's something the area has been missing for far too long. Now the only other thing we need is a major training center, and this would be an epic place for people to ride and train year-round."

All-Pennsylvania event

That the Lehigh Valley was bypassed on the Triple Crown circuit was not lost on Chauner, who founded the organization along with Gerry Casale and Jack Simes in 1985. Chauner and Simes were the original directors of the velodrome in Trexlertown known as the Valley Preferred Cycling Center.

The Philadelphia race began in 1985 as the USPRO Championships. The event turned into the Triple Crown series in 1992, adding circuit stages in Lancaster and Trenton, N.J.

"After Wachovia dropped out as the name sponsor and Commerce Bank and the state of Pennsylvania got on board, we added Reading to replace Trenton in 2006," Chauner said.

'Let's make this happen'

The Lancaster contract had come up for renewal, and the organizers there wanted a little more control over the dates to coincide with other events in Lancaster, according to Chauner.

In the meantime, Joe McDermott, a former reporter for The Morning Callwho had been working for Allentown mayor Ed Pawlowski and currently works for the Lehigh Valley Economic Development CorporationCorp., had been in contact with Chauner and Casale, pitching the Lehigh Valley as the perfect site to replace Lancaster.

"With Lancaster up for renewal, we wanted to see if Allentown was interested," Chauner said, "and Joe McDermott really got on the band wagon and said 'Let's make this happen!' "

McDermott, a longtime cycling enthusiast, literallyhopped in his car and rode out a route or two before pitching the course the cyclists will compete on Tuesday.

The Triple Crown

The Commerce Bank Triple Crown consists of three individual men's races: The Lehigh Valley Classic (85-mile circuit) on Tuesday, the Reading Classic (75-mile circuit) on Thursday, and the Philadelphia International Championship (156-mile circuit). It also includes a Triple Crown for women: 25-mile pro races Tuesday and Thursday and the , along with the women'sLiberty Classic (57.6-mile circuit) on Sunday.

"We created the professional championship in 1985 in Philadelphia when we started the first race," Chauner said. "Gerry Casale, Jack Simes and I founded the race. What was lacking in the U.S. at that time was a marquee, signature national event for the professionals. Road racing was small at the time, but we secured Philadelphia, with CoreStates Bank as the sponsor."

Chauner said the three men put together the nugget of such a race during the 1984 world championships in BarcelonaBarcelona, Spain. Since there had been no U.S. professional championship at the time, they also developed the format for the race, which included an international field, with the top American earning the U.S. pro national title.

Retaining international flavor

As professionals began being included in the Olympics toward the mid-1990s, the amateur and professional sides of cycling merged into one body. To helpfacilitate that, the current Pro Cycling Tour relinquished its rights to the professional championship, which fell under the aegis of USA Cycling.

PCT continued to run the championship in its format -- overseen by USA Cycling -- until the contract came up for renewal in 2005. At that point, national governing bodies in cycling were required to run national championships with only Americans competing. PCT wanted to keep the international flavor of its event, so it gave up the rights to the national championship in orderto keep the international field. Instead of an overall and a U.S. champion at the Philadelphia race, there is simply one overall winner.

Chauner said that when the race did crown a national champion, often times the strategies were affected. If a U.S. rider was not part of a breakaway attempt at the front, teams with U.S. contenders would sit back and let the international riders vie for the overall win while trying to position their U.S. rider for the national win.

Back when the Philadelphia race first started, 7-Eleven was the only pro team in the U.S. While that team has been long gone from the sponsorship scene, the U.S. currently has 15-18 professional teams.

World class riders

The Triple Crown isn't just another bicycle race like a weekend criterium.

"Races like this are definitely huge to help the sport grow," said Easton's Bill Elliston, a cyclist with the Rite Aid team. "These high profile events are what appeal to the bigger market of fans to get them involved whether through riding, getting involved as a sponsor, or just giving it a chance by watching."

Even beyond that, the races bring world class talent into smaller local areas. Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong won the USPRO championship in 1993. U.S. Olympic speed skating champion Eric Heiden won the inaugural event in 1985. Tour de France riders Fred Rodriquez, George Hincapie, Jacob Piil and Henk Vogels also have won the race.

Being able to see current stars and future stars in such an intimate setting as the 12-lap, 7.1-mile circuit of the Lehigh Valley Classic gives fans ample time to not only see the racers multiple times, but to see them in different spots along the course without missing any of the action.

"It gives spectators a little more opportunity to see how the event actually breaks down," Elliston said. "You don't just see it for five seconds and lose interest like in a European point-to-point stage race. We'll go through a particular point probably every 19 minutes."

Valley's culture of cycling

When it comes to cycling and the Lehigh Valley, though, the two are an excellent perfect fit.

The late Bob Rodale saw to that when he decided to build a velodrome -- a bicycle racing track -- in Trexlertown near the gun club where he honed the shotgun skills that helped him become a U.S. Olympian.

The rolling hills and country roads from Trexlertown out to Fleetwood and Oley, the back roads between Bucks and Montgomery counties, as well as the roads of southern Lehigh and Berks counties and the mountain climbs of Carbon and Monroe counties make this area an idyllic spot for cycling as a passionate pursuit, a lifestyle, or simply recreation.

That supportive culture is one of the reasons the Lehigh Valley has been able to contribute some of the top cyclists in the U.S., cyclists such as Olympic gold and silver medalist Marty Nothstein of Trexlertown, junior world champion Sarah Uhl of Perkasie, U.S. Olympic long team members such as Lauren Franges of Barto, Bobby Lea of Topton and literallyhundreds of cyclists who have moved here to raise their aspirations to the elite world level.

"I lived in the Lehigh Valley for four years," Pittsburgh's Mike Friedman said. "For me to come back to Allentown, where people know me, and to race in front of them is going to be great."

Cycling fanatics

Friedman is a former winner of The Morning Call Rider of the Year at the VPCC and is on the Olympic long team as well, along with Lea, Brad Huff and Colby Pearce, all of whom have trained here.

"The whole area is full of cycling fanatics," Friedman said. "Big names come out of Allentown as far as the track and road riders. For a race like this to come to Allentown, it will open a lot of eyes as the cyclists hit the coffee shops, restaurants and hotels."

"Cycling in this area is huge," said Mike Tamayo, the team manager for Health Net, who is married to Franges and raced in the Allentown area until ulcerative colitis ended that portion of his competitive career. "It's a thriving community and easy to hide away from the urban, metropolitan area of Allentown."

And now, it has its own world class road race, part of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, one of the most prestigious race series in the United States.